Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jul 2016
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.inquirer.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073
Authors: Maricar B. Brizuela and Jaymee T. Gamil

QC COPS IN 'CLEANSING' MODE, KILL PEER FOR RECYCLING DRUGS

A MEMBER of the Quezon City Police District's (QCPD) antinarcotics 
division, whom the high command had monitored for allegedly reselling 
drugs seized in big-time raids and arrests, was shot dead by fellow 
officers who were carrying out what their leader called an "internal 
cleansing" of their ranks.

Senior Insp. Ramon Castillo became another statistic in the Duterte 
administration's bloody war on drugs, albeit in a distinct category 
of kills. He allegedly refused to surrender and shot it out with a 
team who had him entrapped in a buy-bust operation in Greater 
Fairview, Quezon City, early Tuesday.

Mobilized for the operation were about 10 members of the QCPD's 
District Special Operation Unit (DSOU), Criminal Investigation and 
Detection Group, Special Operations Group, the Highway Patrol Group 
and the Quezon City Hall Detachment Task Force.

A QCPD report said it acted on a tip that the 47-year-old Castillo 
was "recycling" or reselling confiscated "shabu" to his own contacts 
in the drug trade. Two undercover agents from DSOU-SPO1 Bernardo 
Suarez and PO3 Reynald Cenon -posed as buyers who were introduced to 
Castillo by the tipster.

A transaction was set around 3:30 a.m. in front of a fast-food 
restaurant on Dahlia Avenue, where Castillo arrived in a Toyota 
Innova. When the two buyers handed an envelope with P10,000 cash to 
Castillo, he allegedly noticed the rest of the team in the vicinity, 
drew a pistol and fired at Suarez and Cenon.

Missing the two officers, Castillo drove off but was cornered on 
Regalado Avenue near the corner of Bullova Street, near Far Eastern 
University Hospital. Castillo continued shooting at his pursuers and 
was eventually killed in the exchange.

The QCPD said he used a 9-mm pistol and kept a sling bag containing 
seven sachets of shabu, several mobile phones, P3,400 in cash, plus 
the marked money given by the poseur buyers.

Based on QCPD records, Castillo, who hailed from Pangasinan and 
resided in Cavite, was first posted in Las Pinas City in 1997. He was 
later transferred to the Southern Police District and National 
Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), before being assigned to the 
QCPD in 2009.

He was assigned to QCPD Station 8 (Project 4) and Station 12 
(Bagumbayan) prior to his transfer to the District Anti-Illegal Drugs 
(DAID) Division in August last year. Prior to his death, he was a 
supervising leader in DAID.

According to reliable sources, Castillo was known among colleagues as 
a frequent casino player who would sometimes borrow money from his 
peers to finance his vice.

In a recent operation led by Castillo, his group reportedly seized 20 
kilos of "shabu" but declared only three kilos, the sources said.

"We are saddened by the untimely death of Castillo. We expected him 
to surrender peacefully just like what police officers in Station 6 
did when they were entrapped, but he resisted," QCPD head Senior 
Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar told reporters on Tuesday. (Last 
week, two members of QCPD Station 6 in Batasan were arrested after 
they allegedly tried to extort money from the family of a drug suspect.)

"There was never an intention to kill him," Eleazar said. "He had a 
family and we condole with them. But just the same, recycling drugs 
also affects a lot of other families."

According to the CIDG-NCR chief, Senior Supt. Billy Tamayo, the 
operation against Castillo was "part of internal cleansing efforts 
within the ranks of the Philippine National Police."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom